About Me

I'm a professional harp performer, chef / pastry chef, and speculative fiction writer from Cincinnati, Ohio. My contemporary fantasy novel Flow is available from Double Dragon Publishing. I've also sold a number of short stories and a few pieces of speculative poetry. I write predominantly fantasy, usually epic and/or humorous, with some soft science fiction. I play the traditional lever harp with a specialty in Celtic music - but I also perform modern and Renaissance tunes.
And yes, you read that right - I have a diploma in Baking and Pastry and an Associates in Culinary Arts and am currently working in the catering field at Kate's Catering and Personal Chef Services (Dayton, KY).

Saturday, April 03, 2010

Goodreads Review: Death Masks

My rating: 4 of 5 starsAh, the Dresden Files. There's nothing quite like the vivid mythology blended with invention, the wisecracking narrator or the breathless pace of these books. It's hard to put any of them down.

Some of my favorite aspects of this book were character related - I think Ivy has to be one of the most whimsical and unique figures in this series, and I hope this isn't her last appearance. Susan's evolution is well-sketched and bittersweet. And Marcone ... I just keep finding myself approving of him despite my best intentions.

Overall, though, what keeps this book from getting five stars is two-fold ...

First, I think it suffers from sequel-itis. The carryover from previous books is generally well-handled (though I think there's an awful lot of it), but too much feels as if it was left dangling by the end.

Second, I've always enjoyed the fact that Dresden has fast balls coming at him from all directions ... but this time, I think there were just too many of them, to the detritus of plot cohesion. Rather than the novel coming to a single climax, it kind of wobbles through two or three smaller ones.

That said, I am definitely up for more, and I had a blast reading Death Masks.